nevadans, the first stop this morning was the swing state of florida. >> we are right in the middle of our 48-hour fly around campaign extravaganza. you notice my voice is getting a little hoarse, but i'm just going to keep on -- i'm just going keep on keeping on. >> keep on keeping on. the president took off from florida within the last hour. the president will touchdown at his next stop, virginia, just after noon today for a 1:00 p.m. campaign event, third stop, illinois where he'll arrive just after 4:00 and cast his ballot after 5:00 in chicago and touchdown in ohio for a campaign event taking place in cleveland and touching down at andrews air force base just after 11:00 p.m. and along for the ride is nbc's own brian williams who asked the president about the close state of this race. >> you're fighting for your life in a 47-47 race. >> well, actually, i think that

we always knew this was going to be a close race from the start. >> meanwhile, the president picked up a key endorsement, former secretary of state colin powell. >> that's an endorsement of president obama for re-election. >> yes. and i'll say why. when he took over the country was in very, very difficult straits. we've come out of the dive and we're starting to gain altitude. i think we ought to keep on the track this we are on. >> he responded to richard hour dock. saying this on the "the tonight show." i don't know how these guys come up with these ideas. let me make a very simple proposition. rape is rape. it is a crime. >> at this state of the game how much will the mourdock firestorm impact the republican presidential nominee? >> what republican candidates have said this year -- >> i know, regarding abortion,

regarding rape, regarding contraception. >> i'm a pro-life guy. >> yea. but they are driving away so many swing voters. >> let's dig in and bring in our thursday political power panel. political reporter for "the washington post," ann lewis, former director of communications for bill clinton and robert trainem, a former communications director for rick santorum. ann, i want to start with you as we take a look at this obama video hitting romney over the mourdock controversy. >> even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape that it is something that god intended to happen. ♪ ♪ >> when it comes to rape should it be legal for a woman to get an abortion. >> i'm very proud of my pro-life record and i've always adopted the idea and the idea that the method of conception doesn't change the definition of life.

>> is this a game changer in the president's favor? >> i think it is less a game changer than moving forward and it emphasizes for women what they knew, what is chilling about these men who again, want to run the government and make decisions that will impact women's lives and yet really don't know what their lives are like. whether it is mitt romney saying he is going to get rid of planned parenthood and by the way, heel he'll be delighted to sign a bill that would end all abortion or paul ryan saying the circumstances or richard mourdock wo uses rape, pregnancy and god's will all in one sentence, that's a very chilling display of internal views and that, in fact, would determine their government policies. >> robert, women's ears prick up about what they hear on the

campaigns and we have this new associated press saying that the gender gap has gone up nationally and they're tied up 47% to 47%. and romney talking about whether he still supported richard mourdock last night. take a listen. >> do you still consider yourself in his corner? >> it depends on what he does. i think it depends on what he does. if he apologizes and says he misspoke and he was wrong. it's when you own up. when you don't own up to it the people will not believe in you? senator mccain has since said that he is glad mourdock has apologized and voiced his support for mourdock. does he withdraw his endorsement? >> i'm not sure about that because mourdock said this, not governor romney. let's go back to something ann said moments ago. this is not something mitt romney said. this is not something that he's endorsed. in fact, he's on record as saying that there's no piece of legislation that he's aware of from an abortion perspective that will cross the president's desk any time soon and when you

take a look at the polls, most american women, rape is rape, it is despicable. it is horrible and it is against the law and everyone who does that should obviously be put in jail, but women are more interested right now in this context about the economy and that's the main reason why you see the 47%-47% poll numbers out there what mr. mourdock should do is apologize and apologize forcefully because what he said is absolutely disgusting and inaccurate and not in the mainstream of american politics and the american psyche. >> how much of a problem is this for governor romney? how worried should the romney campaign be? it exposes an achilles heel on that. >> we're talking about social issues rather than the economy. that certainly hurts mitt romney. so far he's been able to thread a pretty careful needle here saying that his position is very different from richard mourdock's, but i would also say he supports richard mourdock in that senate race and the republicans are looking at the

prospect of taking the senate over, so at this point romney could be looking at the prospect if he actually is elected at rung the board, the senate, the house and having the white house and that makes republicans happy that they could be in that position. >> so i think one of the things about this whole issue and in some ways it not only turns off women who when you look at a recent gallup poll, abortion is the top issue for women voters. that doesn't say whether or not they're pro-choice or pro-life and they're top of mind and ahead of the economy. so i think not only you have that issue with women, but i actually got a call from a man who said this was troubling for him to have politicians talk about rape in the ideological, abstract way rather than talking about it in a way that frames it as a crime and something that too many women deal with. >> one thing we're watching is both campaigns taking ohio very

seriously. the latest battleground map showing ohio still and this key playing piece with the two men getting to that piece. that map will stay on their side and i was saying there's this new time poll showing women voting in ohio are favoring the president 56% to 37%. >> thank you for bringing that up, tom. when i hear people say the gender gap will go either way. look at the swing state polls. larger numbers of voters, very carefully, 19 points up for women, that's a winning margin and no, he's not banking on anything. that's why he's there and that's why he's going to come back there and he's going to keep talking to voters in ohio and he's going to remind them once again that it was barack obama and his administration who saved the united states' auto industry when mitt romney said let them go bankrupt. i will tell you what is being banked. what is being banked are the early votes. numbers, thousands and thousands of ohio voters who have already

cast their votes and from what i can tell, it's something like 60 to 30 in favor of president obama. >> you're accurate right there, ann. it is early voting according to "time" magazine, 60% in favor of president obama and is this something that governor romney can tackle. can they be able to do enough in the days that are left to have a chance with ohio. >> i don't know the answer to that question, tom. i think we'll see come election day, but a couple of things and i just want to let detroit go bankrupt because the democrats and bush have quite some time. "the new york times" actually place that title and not governor romney and it's ironic that the major newspaper endorsed governor romney this morning and that's number one and going back to your point about women in ohio. no question where governor romney and paul ryan need to do is begin to talk about the future for the next few years and president obama's favor, but i remind you and the viewers out

there that in 2004 george w. bush won ohio in southwestern ohio and we didn't know that until the day after election day. >> would mitt romney have written government checks to detroit. >> well, i think -- >> yes or no. yes or no. >> no. >> the president picked up this key endorsement from colin powel and we are just learning that the president has called colin powell to thank him for that. do you think this will help the president in states like virginia? >> i think it doesn't hurt. i don't think endorsements really matter. when you have colin powell who does enjoy such bipartisan support and has such stature as a level-headed, moderate republican, tossing his support behind barack obama and he did the same thing in 2008. i do think it's a big deal and a talking point for democrats to use on the stump in states like virginia where those issues like the navy military issues will certainly matter also in the states like florida. >> colin powell coming out for

the president like he did in '08 and coming out again this morning for his support. >> my thanks to all three of you. i appreciate it. >> thank you. i want to bring in my next guest florida democratic congressman ted deutch. the recent polling showing governor romney leading there. what, if anything, can the president do to close the gap in a state that seems to be leaning toward mitt romney? >> sure. great to be with you, by the way, thomas. first of all, in three of the last five polls that came out down here, the president's ahead, but there are a lot of things that are going in the presidents -- that are working in the president's favor. first of all, there are 500,000 more registered democrats in florida than there are registered republicans. we have seen that the president is doing five times better in early voting this time than he did four years ago. the hispanic voter registration is up by 195,000 and only 18,000 of those registered as republicans.

that, together with the incredible ground game. 106 field offices around the state, the president's good shape to win the state of florida. >> as we talk about the president's xhefrnts to the des moines register in which he wins the second term it will be due in large part to republicans and governor romney alienating latino voters. florida's latino population has exploded and a diverse latino population making up nearly 23% of the state and as we look at the diversification, it doesn't include cubans, puerto ricans and mexicans. is the latino population in florida solid leah for the president or is it likely that the president can make inroads. >> the community is solidly behind the president and they're behind the president for several reasons. first and foremost because the president's plans for the economy is built from the middle out. it helps middle class families and not just the top down approach that outsourced jobs and crashed our economy before. the hispanic community

understands that just like the broader community and on immigration, this is a president that's committed to immigration reform and it's taken dramatic steps to help immigrants find a place in this country while governor romney's position is still one of self-deportation. he struggles to maintain that and the community here in florida have heard this loud and clear. >> we appreciate your time. >> my pleasure, thanks, thomas. >> let's move on and talk about hurricane sandy. it's making its way to the u.s. and to florida and even new england. new england being in the crosshairs. we'll take a look at that and plus the path to 270 and looking at the different scenarios for winning this election and we want to know what you think. smart or distortion of the public trust. of any small business credit card! pizza!!!!! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back

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all right. so in just a moment how colorado could be the sleeper state on election day and we begin with the battle ground headlines in the centennial state. political die hards flood colorado from other states. thousands of volunteers are fanning out across colorado going door to door. then there's this from "the tampa bay times." women voters up for grabs. obama can't take this solid block for granted in 2012. the focus undecided so-called walmart moms or centrist women with kids under the age of 18. and check out the front page of the "cincinnati enquirer." the provisional ballots might put a kink on election day. voters who requested an absentee ballot and later decided on going to the polls and filling out a provisional ballot. cincinnati is where we're expecting mitt romney to speak any moment from now.

so what about ohio and how important is it really when it comes down to the all-important path to 270? nbc's political editor domenico joins us with those numbers. the key to the buckeye state for the obama campaign is what? >> so let's take a look here. here's our election map and you see on this map, we have nevada as a toss-up just for our purposes because when we go inside the numbers here, look at these states. these are the states that are the ones in play. if we give nevada to the president, you'll see he's at 243. you can give him new hampshire where he's leading in a lot of polls and he needs one more of iowa and wisconsin. let's give him iowa, let's say for right now and then you add in ohio and look at that. now we're at 271. romney's at 206. he would need some combination, even if he gets florida and even if he gets virginia where he's favored.

248, 271, colorado and even if he gets colorado. look at that, he's at 257. wisconsin, 267 and you can swap wisconsin for iowa. it's why the midwest is so important and why it is so key for mitt romney to win two of those three midwestern states and if president obama gets ohio you can see how difficult the path becomes for romney and how it can go for president obama. >> domenica, what's the one state that will keep us up all night come election day. >> well, you know, we've talked a lot about florida. we've talked a lot about virginia and we've talked about the importance of ohio and it's still important and lots of electoral votes out there and let's put all of these back in and let's take a look here and the one state we think about is colorado, because if you were to take florida and give it to mitt romney, virginia, give it to mitt romney, o highway owe, give it to mitt romney, he's still not quite there, 266 and it's

possible, president obama like we said favored in nevada, favored in new hampshire and maybe a slight edge in wisconsin right now and maybe a slight edge in iowa, where are we at? 266 for mitt romney and 263 for president obama and colorado, a western state, two hours behind. 9:00 closing time could keep us up well into election night and even into 2:00, 3:00 in the morning and we could be watching those denver suburbs. >> it's all about the math. nbc news political editor domenico, thanks so much. you can check it out with decision app for ipad and see which states are still a toss-up and see what happens when either candidate wins and download it at the itunes store and have at it. there are voters undecided in this country and with 12 days, that's it, 12 days until election day, what are they waiting to hear from candidates? plus we'll look at hurricane sandy churning toward the u.s. after battling cuba. it has florida in its sights and possibly new england, too and

we're also keeping our eye on mitt romney who is visiting ohio and we'll be back with his speech at a campaign stop there. >> thank you! thank you! ♪ i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios

tend to weigh less than those who don't. you're not just looking for a by house. eyes you're looking for a place for your life to happen. yeah. yeah. then how'd i get this... [ voice of dennis ] ...allstate safe driving bonus check? what is that? so weird, right?

my agent, tom, said... [ voice of dennis ] ...only allstate sends you a bonus check for every six months you're accident-free... ...but i'm a woman. maybe it's a misprint. does it look like a misprint? ok. what i was trying... [ voice of dennis ] silence. ♪ ask an allstate agent about the safe driving bonus check. are you in good hands? >> as promised, i wanted to give you a campaign event in cincinnati with mitt romney. >> the doctor will say i'm happy to make an appointment to see you. that's the difference between a romney administration and an obama administration. [ applause ] >> now for those of you in your 40s or 50s who have always anticipated that these would be the high-earning years, the most productive years, the years that you would be able to put a little away for retirement or perhaps help your kids with

college and yet you're finding that's harder and harder to do because incomes have been going down. at the same time, prices have been going up for things like gasoline and healthcare and food. i was talking with a gentleman just the other day and he said he used to have a job at $25 plus benefits and now he's only able to get a job at $9 an hour and he bonders what's going to become of him. what's going to happen of his future. the campaign slogan is forward. to this gentleman it doesn't feel like things are going forward. it feels like backward. to americans, it feels like it's going backward to those who can't find good work. [ applause ] >> and so for the last year and four debates, three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate the president has been looking for a plan. he's been looking for some way to help the gentleman i spoke about, some way to help the 23

million people out of work. he hasn't been able to find a plan and he hasn't been able to define what he's going to do to make america strong going forward. i have a plan that will create 12 million jobs and rising take-home pay and i'm going to help that man who needs a good-paying job. [ applause ] >> you might have a daughter graduating from college this year, and when she graduates she's going have about -- i don't know, $10,000 or $20 of student debt, maybe more and she knows she'll be paying interest on that debt for a long, long time, but what she may not have noticed is that she also has about $50,000 of government debt not for things she bought, but for things my generation spent money on. $50,000 and when she gets her first take-home paycheck, and she sees all of this deducted by government, a lot of what she's

paying for is the interest on the things we borrowed, and this president has no plan to get us to a balanced budget. he continues to spend a trillion dollars more every year, adding to her debt year after year. i will finally cut spending and i'll cap federal spending and get us on track to a balanced budget. [ applause ] you might -- you might have a child in school and perhaps the school your child is going to is not the kind of quality institution you hoped it would be. you may be concerned that your child won't get the skills he or she needs to be successful or competitive in the new economy and yet you find another school, perhaps a cyber school or another public school further from your home and say i want to send my child there, but you are

told in so many states in this country, no, no, no, you can't do that. you must stay in this school. your dollars won't follow your child as they go to another school. why is that? well, it's in part because the teachers union doesn't like the idea of school choice. i like school choice, and so i -- [ applause ] >> and because -- and because my campaign contributions don't come largely from the teachers union i don't have to do what the teachers union tells me to do. i, instead, can do something which is this. i'm going to make sure all of the federal dollars that go out to help schools go to the child instead so the child can choose, the parents can choose the school their child can go to and the federal dollars will follow that child and we can have real school choice in america. >> mitt romney visiting with folks there in cincinnati, ohio. a campaign event at a jet

machine located there and he'll move on to other events in ohio, attending something in columbus later this afternoon and then in defiance, ohio, he'll be there at a high school or defiance high school at :30 this evening. one thing while mitt romney is out on the campaign trail that's daunting him is the firestorm smolderring about comments that were made about rape and pregnancy by a senate candidate in indiana, his name richard mourdock and the republican spoke about his comments at a dinner in indiana. mourdock saying, professionally, emotionally it's been one of the toughest days of my life. joining me now is wisconsin democratic congresswoman moore. earlier this hour you powerfully -- or earlier this year, excuse me, you have spoken of your life example of being a rape victim, and you did that on the house floor. when you hear remarks like this coming from one, an elder statesman, a man who most likely

will never be sexually assaulted in his life and certainly never impregnated in his life, what is your reaction to these new comments in politico? >> thomas, i have the same experience that many women and many rape victims and rape survivors have is that there's a visceral reaction. i can tell you after his comments i had to take a lot of deep breaths to collect myself, find a lot of people have sleep problems. rape survivors, men and women, find that they have a higher degree of alcohol and drug abuse, thoughts of suicide. rape is very serious, but, you know, up to a quarter of all women will experience rape at some point in their lives. most rape victims are women, and, you know, so i think men really don't realize all of these comments minimize the impact of rape on women to say, oh, you know, paul ryan says

rape is just another form of conception that, you know, the zygote, the egg and sperm meeting, that's more important than women's lives and women's health. you know, these comments really circle back to a belief that somehow women want to just use the excuse of rape as some giant loophole so that they can obtain abortions upon demand, and it minimizes the tragedy that rape is in women's lives and the tragedy that it would be to force women into motherhood based on these men's and the government's belief system that women ought to give birth even in the cases of rape and incest, whether it's a legitimate rape or illegitimate rape or

statutory rape somehow -- >> congresswoman, the president was very firm last night in his remarks on a light hearted show like "the tonight show" made very crucial comments about rape is rape no matter what, and now we have -- >> thomas, you can't tell by listening to these people. if mitt romney said he would -- he would repeal roe v. wade if he had an opportunity. these senators are just two members of congress that form a large group of people in the house of representatives and others who have tried to change the definition of rape, who have said that they -- that they want to turn back the clock on women's ability to receive an abortion should they find themselves in this circumstance. i think women in america ought to be very, very concerned and very afraid.

if these men take over the senate and the white house about reproductive freedom and with respect to all of the commentary that women care more about economic issues, i can't think of anything that has a bigger impact on women's economic prospects than whether or not they become apparent, and it's an economic decision, and so not to mention the fact that this is a huge, huge problem for the mental health and physical health of a woman to be subjected, to be subjected to this kind of policy and they're not misspeaking, thomas, this is what they believe. >> congresswoman moore, thanks for joining me. i appreciate it. >> thank you for what you do, thomas. >> thanks. one look at the president's and governor's frenetic activity and you can see where the outcome of the race is likely to

be decided. those swing states highlighted in yellow could lean or mean either way come november. linda killian issa uthor of the book "the swing vote." for all of us in this building that anybody could still be undecided sounds kind of daunting and uncertain, but you have studied the swing voters and break them down into four different categories and i'll put up the list because i like it. npr republicans, america first democrats and starbucks parents and the facebook generation. describe these core constituents. >> oh, absolutely, these four groups in four states i talk about in the swing vote, ohio, ohio, colorado, new hampshire, virginia, they are going to decide this election. npr republicans, fiscally conservative, socially tolerant and liberal. this is the kind of republican mitt romney used to be when he was governor of massachusetts.

not sure if he is now, you know? but they probably, they voted for barack obama last time. they probably will vote for mitt romney this time. in a state like new hampshire where there are a lot of moderate republicans, incredibly important. the young voters, the facebook generation, voters under 35 registered for independence than any other age group. i talked to a lot of young voters in a state like colorado and north carolina, these are states where young voters made a huge difference last time. they voted for barack obama last time. i think this time they will either not vote for vote for barack obama. i think that's where young voters are, they're frustrated and in debt. real power voters. you saw mitt romney talking about education and had is an issue that they care a great deal about and they're undecided.

barack obama carried these voters in the sub ushs of pennsylvania, virginia, colorado last time. whoever wins the presidency has got to carry the suburbs in the swing states. >> sure. >> and they are not low-information voters when with the saturday night live and the pundits talk about, they are paying attention and there are some low information voters who may not vote, but these moms, these starbucks moms are tuned in really. they are listening. focused like a laser beam and these candidates haven't told them how things would be different. they voted for barack obama last time. mitt romney just hasn't closed the deal with them. >> one thing with voters under the age of 35 representing the highest percentage of independent voters, with that in mind, is the president seizing bigger opportunities by diversifying where he is appearing and by that i mean on "the tonight show" or doing the type of town hall interview that he's doing on mtv on friday,

being able to appeal to the younger voters. >> he absolutely is. >> because mitt romney's not doing this. >> no. he has written off this demographic so romney's trying to appeal to his voter in every way he can and the first group and this is how he's diversifying with the america first democrats with white male middle class voters and ohio, ohio, ohio, this is a state where union votes matter the republicans did an anti-union -- i talked to a police officer who is republican and is working for barack obama this time. that could make the difference in ohio this time. >> we shall see. i love the motto of new hampshire, live until you die. author of the book "swing vote." thanks for having me, thomas. >> absolutely. hurricane sandy marching to the bahamas. when the beast is there, should

their storm could spin out of the caribbean and trek up the northeast corridor taking us into really wicked weather next week. here's a look at other stories topping right now. the tunition men was there with the benghazi consulate attack and a second suspect was killed in egypt after a clash with security officials and they were quilling at these three people in a black camaro and considered john and dangerous. >> john lee malvo says he was abused by john allen muhammad, convicted for the 2002 shootings. he, mrens where he never said anything up until now. >> couldn't say no. i had wanted that level of love and acceptance and consistency for all of my life and couldn't find it. >> nine more people have been

diagnosed with meningitis bringing that total now to 317 cases. at least 24 people have died from the mold-contaminated drugs. president obama responds to donald trump's offer. $5 million to a charity of his choice if he releases his college and passport records. he told jay leno this seeming animosity goes back their childhood days. >> this all dates back to when we were growing up together in kenya. >> make sure you tune in to "rock center," williams' exclusive interview with president obama on the trail. ts. citracal slow release continuously releases calcium plus d with efficient absorption in one daily dose. citracal slow release. but, dad, you've got... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. with accident forgiveness, they guarantee your rates won't go up just because of an accident. smart kid.

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things because we happen to believe that america faces big challenges and we recognize this is a year with big choice and the americans want to see big changes and i'm going to bring it to this country. [ applause ] nbc's peter alexander is traveling with the romney campaign and joins us live from cincinnati. peter, this is the first of three stops for the governor today. the voters, though, the undecideds, how is mitt romney trying to target them and get their attention. >> yea, thomas, it's a good question. those three stops are in the cincinnati area and they make a stop in the columbus area and ultimately in toledo and these are three of the four biggest markets in the state. as it comes to independence, they're hoping these people will be engaged in this message of change and optimism and that phrase that you played in the clip just a second ago. big change planned and he's used it three times in the course of the 15 minutes that we've been listening to him. just a second ago i finished a conversation with the director here in ohio for the romney

campaign for president and they've knocked on 20 times more doors than they did. it's much about independence, this is about trying to get out the base and trying to swell their support. one other thing you should know over the last 24 hours is the republican senate candidate about abortion and romney said via his campaign that he did not suppor support. he continues to support the campaign himself a. >> peter alexander traveling with the romney campaign. thanks so much. we give you a live look in richmond, virginia, and that's where president obama will be speaking later this afternoon and we'll cover that for you on msnbc. right now economists and budget gurus are on the edge that if d.c. does something to stop looming spending cuts and tax hikes they'll let the nation go over the fiscal cliff.

today we want to talk about that trip to the brink and why it matters in this election. just a reminder, it all started back in july 2011, filled with members who pledged in their campaigns to not raise the debt ceiling under any circumstances and true to their word, they brought congress and the country to the edge of defaulting on our national debt for the first time in our nation's history and business leaders across the country. these key law making men agreed by wide margins and chambers by bipartisan support. and now 67 days will be back, and msnbc contributor and our resident congressional wizard is here to explain it all. the magician himself. so explain the fiscal cliff. everyone will remember in august 2011 and the talk about the grand bargain and that. >> basically, what happened is they came to this big deal and the big deal had two parts to

it. the first one was they extended the debt and we're not going to extend the debt ceiling and we'll walk off the cliff and nothing will happen. we didn't do that and we sat there teetering in the edge of the cliff and the deal said the following, we'll extend the debt ceiling in 2012 and we'll set up the super committee with capes and big ss on their chests and we'll figure out a way to cut 10.2 trillion and guess what happened to the 12 men and women from the house, senate, republicans and democrats? they failed and didn't do it. so the third part of it kicked in and that's called sequester. what is sequestration? >> exactly. what is sequestration? >> you know what? sequestration has nothing to do with horses and sequestration is simple and it goes back to the theory for three retired senators. phil gramm of texas and fritz hollings of south carolina and you saw the picture of biden, reid and mcconnell and boehner

and they reached back and got these three old senators' idea to take the budget. if you can't balance the budget you have automatic spending cuts and that's what sequestration is, nothing more, nothing less. that's what it is. so they said, okay, if the committee can't agree we'll just have sequestration cuts. the committee didn't agree and now we'll have spending cuts across the board so where are those spending cuts going to come from? from the pentagon, who's freaked out about it? john mccain is freaking out about it. guess what? john mccain voted for the sequester and guess who else is freaked out about it, why? more military ships in the country than in virginia than anywhere else and then you have folks in the house side as well. in the debate on monday night you heard president bush slip up and say the sequester will not happen, right? and then hand? afterwards in the spin room, i think it was on a cliff and i can't remember and i walked that back. >> and one of the davids.

one of the king davids sort of walked it back. the bottom line is we are now sitting here once again just like we were a year and a half ago sitting on the edge of the fiscal cliff. >> so what's the scenario if obama wins? what's the scenario if romney wins? >> obama said something interesting in the off-the-record interview, if i win i will go to congress and within the first six months i will get a big deal, a grand plan which is what he tried to do with john boehner before and by the way, if obama does win he will have a certain amount of political capital has to spend as george bush famously said. he will probably spend it on that and he will get a grand deal and it will include tax cuts that will go up on the wealthiest people because republicans will be defeated in their attempt to win the white house. if romney wins, same thing. exactly the same thing so america, fyi, it doesn't matter who the next president is. it matters to me, but for you it doesn't matter who the next president is when it comes to the fiscal cliff.

they'll make a deal. >> the americans in general out there are worried about where we are going and that's why the economy is struggling but the feet will get off the net when we get through this, right? >> they have their foot on the necks of america. >> you're still sitting on edge of the cliff and if i'm wall street and i'm a foreign bondholder of u.s. debt i would be completely freaked out at this point in time because it is sht going to be worked anything unless they fix this problem. you can't keepic canning the can down the road. they have to have a big, huge, massive plan worth at least $4 trillion to make wall street, s&p, moody's fitch, the credit-rating agencies to make them go, okay. they're being responsible, congress being responsible. that's an interesting thought. >> we'll see how that goes with the american public because they don't think congress is very responsible and all-around brainiac magician. >> magician. >> jimmy williams. good to have you with us. >> i appreciate it.

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and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, and he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

we asked and you answered. moderate mitt? it's a distortion, romney's saying anything just to get the voter' trust. the real mitt behind closed doors. when did lying become a good strategy? you may not like obama but he's more trustworthy. keep commentsed intoing in to us. tweet me@thomasa roberts. find me on facebook. marriage equality on the ballot in four states november 6th, maine, maryland, washington, minnesota. this, in a presidential election, where the incumbent backs marriage equality and his challenger, supports doma and opposes civil unions. stark contrast, mainly based on religious objections. voters seem to pass the bat lol level initiatives as the country as a whole approves of marriage equality. right there, 54% saying same-sex

marriage should be legalized. next guest is mitchell gold, author and known for challenging religious institutions to reach more tolerance. great to have you here. i want to point out, you're honored on november 11th, the interfaith alliances' 15th annual waller cronkite faith and freedom gala here in the city. i know how important it is to you as an activist trying to bridge the divide between what's taught at the pulpits and what's happening outside on the street. what have you learned, as you've been trying to do this work? >> what i've learned over the years is that, frankly, the lgbt community has really not done a good enough job. they've done a job but not good enough job of educating people about the arm from outdated, misguided, ill informed religious teachings. when people learn, i have found, when people learn that they're harming teenage kids, this is -- these are the things that are causing them to go into a closet

and hang themselves or jump off a bridge or to be in deep depression. i really have seen that most people out there are good people and don't mean to hurt people, but the marriage ballots in all of states have been presented as more an septic and not talking about the harm it's caused and whether it's a teenager or a 40-year-old. >> one thing the president has come out over the summer saying he supports marriage equality. you have a booming business. it's base the in north carolina. north carolina leaning toward mitt romney right now. north carolina, the president took back in '08. >> right. >> do you think the president could have a shot there? >> i think the polls are so close, you can't tell. and there's a lot of good people in north carolina. i think as they come to understand that there's no question that business and the economy is better than it was four years ago. that's not even a question. look at the stock market. our business last year was 27% ahead in our retail stores. we're better off than we were four years ago.

>> what did you think of the outlook of president romney, someone guided by his mormon religious faith, someone who has said he supports doma, a constitutional federal marriage amendment, banning marriage equality, and also done support civil unions? >> right. well, i think this is what all undecided voters should be look at undecided voters should be much bigger than they are. every republican looking at mitt romney should be undecided voter because they have not really learned what mitt romney is. when a person is of such adherence to his mormon faith as he is, his faith teaches that gay people should live a life of selcelibacy celibacy, they should be abstinent, not have contact with sa same-sex people, it's too much of a temptation, they have a booklet called god loveth his children, they give to people who are gay, to continue to tithe, of course and pray like crazy. if you do those things, if you

do those things, then, and family very, very important to mormons on the other side, after you die, you will be reunited with your family, and you will be put with somebody appropriate for your sexual life. these are really such outdated thinking, it's incredible. and mitt romney has aligned himself with that kind of thinking. he's contributed to anti-gay campaigns. the mormon, as a group, is one of the most anti-gay groups in country, one of the most veer ently anti-gay groups in the country. >> you're honored here by the faith and freedom gala on the 11th. congratulations. thanks, good to see you. that's going to wrap things up for me. tomorrow, joining the lineup, pollsters stan greenberg, power pan panel, a.b. stoddard, chris ch

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prand you're seeing that rightno quit in amnow.a... tend to weigh less than those who don't. over five million new jobs. exports up forty one percent. home values... rising. our auto industry... back. and our heroes are coming home. we're not there yet, but we've made real progress and the... last thing we should do is turn back now. here's my plan for the next four years: making education and training a national priority; building on our manufacturing boom; boosting american-made energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where... we can, and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. and ending the war in afghanistan, so we can... do some nation-building here at home. that's the right path. so read my plan, compare it to governor romney's... and decide which is better for you. it's an honor to be your president... and i'm asking for your vote... so together, we can keep moving america forward. i'm barack obama and i approve this message.